Bubble baths, dancing and recipes

Last night I let Nash get in the tub with Brookelyn.  I left for a second to take care of Caleb and came back to a bath tub of bubbles.  Apparently, even Nash is quicker than I am!  Brooke was loving the bubbles though so I grabbed the camera and snapped a few pictures.  Nash was teaching her how to make a bubble beard.

Notice the expression on her little mug?  Yep.  Caught climbing again!

Nash getting his groove on with Brookelyn

 Tonight I was trying to decide what to do for dinner.  Nash & Sam were down at my parent's house so it was just me and the littles.  Caleb is one of the pickiest kids I know.  I finally remembered I have this giant cookbook of (what else?) mostly untried recipes:

In case you're wondering, it's 2.5 inches and yes, it's mostly full (as you can tell by the next photo).

It isn't like I've got a shortage of recipe books to choose from.  Everything on my shelf is a recipe book except that pile on the very bottom on the left and in the middle.

I couldn't find a recipe to use for pork chops that I thought sounded tasty.  So, I resorted to allrecipes.com.  I ended up making Honeyed Pork Chops.  Yes, I printed that recipe out for my binder as well.

Next time I won't cook them as long as it said to, they were a bit dry.

After realizing just how many recipes I had in my untried recipes binder, I've decided I need to set another goal for myself to do another month worth of new recipes every day.  I did have try 1 new recipe each week on my summer bucket list, but I've failed miserably.  I've only tried 3 new recipes the entire summer!  Be watching for new recipe posts to come!

Cake Batter & Sprinkle Bark

Last night Laura and I attempted this new recipe: Cake Batter & Sprinkle Bark.  We found the recipe here: http://sweetapolita.com/2011/09/cake-batter-sprinkle-bark/

6 oz chopped dark or semi dark (high quality) baking chocolate (I used what I could find at the local grocery store)

12 oz chopped white (high quality) baking chocolate (again, I used what I found at the local grocery store)

3 teaspoons white cake mix

Sprinkles of choice

1. Line baking sheet with parchment.

2. Chop chocolate.

3. Melt dark chocolate in microwave safe bowl for 30 seconds.  Take chocolate out & stir.  Repeat as necessary until chocolate is melted and smooth.  DO NOT BURN YOUR CHOCOLATE.

4. Spread dark chocolate on parchment with rubber spatula.  Spread to desired thickness.  

5. Freeze for 20 minutes to set.

6. Melt white chocolate just like you did the dark chocolate.

7. Add cake mix to white chocolate.

8. Stir cake mix into white chocolate until chocolate is smooth.  Let set for 3 minutes to thicken.

9. Spread white chocolate over dark chocolate to desired thickness.

10. Add desired amount of sprinkles.

11. Freeze for 20 minutes to set.

12. Break into pieces & store in refrigerator.

The recipe is surprising simple.  We did make a few tweaks to it, just to see how it would work.  I will tell you DO NOT omit the parchment or substitute it for something like wax paper.  The parchment paper was so, so nice & made it super simple to break the bark.  The chocolate just lifted right up and there wasn't much of a mess to clean up either.  Also, I would up the cake mix to either 3 TBSP or leave it out all together.  The recipe calls for 3 teaspoons of cake mix and you couldn't even tell that it was added in.

On the large (regular size) cookie sheet, we substituted the baking chocolate for milk chocolate chocolate chips and white chocolate chocolate chips (We used Hershey's brand).  We didn't chop up the chocolate chips because we figured they were small enough already.  We weren't sure the chocolate chips would melt like baking chocolate.  It melted just fine though and spread just as easily as the baking chocolate.  After we melted the white chocolate and added the cake mix the directions tell you to let it sit for 3 minutes to thicken up.  The white chocolate chips thickened up fairly quickly.  In comparison, the baking chocolate didn't thicken up noticeably.   

For the smaller cookie sheet we did use the baking chocolate.  However, we only did half a batch because I didn't know how much baking chocolate to buy & I only bought one box of semi sweet chocolate and one box of white chocolate. (which wasn't enough oz of white chocolate).

The recipe calls for 6 oz dark or semi dark chocolate and 12 oz white chocolate.  I wondered how that would make the bark turn out.  Only using the 6 oz of dark chocolate made it so there was only a thin layer of the dark chocolate on the bottom and a thicker layer of the white chocolate on top.  I think the intent is to mellow out the intensity of the dark chocolate.

We used the sprinkles that are soft. I wouldn't use the crystallized sugar sprinkles.  The reason I say that is that the bark is hard enough, you don't need hard sprinkles too.  Plus, the bark was frozen when we tried it (as per the directions) so it was nice to have a little bit of softness.

We worried that the chocolate would turn when we put it in the freezer.  The directions tell you to freeze the dark chocolate layer for 20 minutes.  We only left it in the freezer for 11 minutes and it was plenty frozen plus, it didn't turn it white either!  The milk chocolate chocolate chip version did start to melt some when we added the white chocolate chips to it.  Not sure if it was because the white chocolate was too hot or if it's because we only froze the bottom layer for 11 minutes.  I didn't have any problems with the baking chocolate melting when I put the white chocolate on and it was only frozen for 11 minutes too.  I also don't think the white baking chocolate sat for the entire 3 minutes.

All in all I'd say this recipe is a keeper.  It's super simple and it's actually quite fast to make.  I would suggest that you don't leave your bark pieces too large.  It's a lot of chocolate (both the chocolate chip and baking chocolate versions and neither one was dark chocolate) and I think if you ate more than a few small pieces you'd be ready to puke (ok, I know you would be...just trust me).  After we cut our bark into pieces we just put the pieces into a gallon size ziplock bag and put it in the refrigerator to keep it from melting.

Happy Baking!

Craft Camp, a flying suit & who I share my bed with

I got a few pictures from Caleb's preschool teacher today.  They are from about 3 weeks ago when they made their cute apples.  

These pictures are from craft camp two weeks ago when they made bird houses.

Crazy to think this one use to see Miss Shannon every day for Kindergarten and now she's going into fourth grade!

This one loves, loves, loves going to Miss Shannon's house for preschool.  He still doesn't know he'll be going to preschool three times a week this fall.  I figured I'd wait to tell him until his first day of preschool.  Otherwise I'm going to have to hear about it every day until then!  I know he's going to be sad when his brother and sister go back to school in about 12 days and he has to wait until after Labor Day to go back.  Maybe I'll have to break the 3 day a week news then to cheer him up!

My mom saw a pattern for a superhero costume about a month or two ago.  She bought it because she thought it screamed Caleb's name.  Caleb's always wearing some sort of "flying suit" or another.  The boy loves his dress ups as much as Samantha does.  In fact, he's worn the pumpkin outfit I made for Halloween last year so much that the velcro has come off!  Mom had wanted to get the new "flying suit" done for Caleb's birthday but her sewing machine broke about a week before his birthday.  She finally got her sewing machine fixed and back and was able to finish Caleb's flying suit.  He's worn it non stop since we brought it home!  Mom is still working on the belt, mask and arm bands that go with it.  When Nash saw Caleb's flying suit he told my mom that he wants one now!  Maybe for Christmas?  My mom said that if she'd have thought about it she would have told me not to get the felt for the dinosaur costume for him for Halloween because he could just go as a superhero.  I told her not to worry, I'm pretty sure he's going to go as a superhero flying dinosaur!

He looks grouchy in this picture because I took away his yogurt and made him get up from watching cartoons to take this picture!

A little while after I took this picture he put his cowboy boots on so he could go to daycare.  Yep.  Snapped a picture of him with the boots on, just haven't uploaded it yet.  In the words of his father, "Cool.  I finally have a kid with an awesome imagination!"

Last week when Travis was home him & Samantha rented Mirror, Mirror and were watching it while I read Witch Born.  Caleb was still up and running around (Nash was having a sleepover at his cousin Kash's house).  I finally got Caleb to come in my room and lay down on my bed with me.  I snapped this picture around 2 am.  Notice the dog?  Yep.  This is what I share my bed with when my husband is HOME!

A trip to the Dr. & the Splash Pad

Yesterday I took B and Caleb to the pediatrician.  I called and made an appointment for Caleb because he's had a yucky nose for at least a week and I figured he had a sinus infection.  I took B with me because she's had this horrible rattle in her chest for the entire summer.  We were there for quite awhile because there was a NICU code that our pediatrician had to respond to.  He later told me that it was just someone in housekeeping had hit the button but they didn't bother to page him and let him know he didn't have to run all the way to the NICU!   

The kids were really good to entertain themselves while we waited though:

Turns out Caleb had a double ear infection (it begins again) and B has junk in her lungs that required a prescription.  So, after we finished up with the dr. we headed to Shopko to pick up two new prescriptions!

 I've been working on cutting out squares for I Spy quilts.  It all started about two months ago when Caleb's preschool teacher asked if anyone wanted to do a quilt block exchange to make I Spys.  I said yes - duh.  I figured that between my mom & I we would have enough scraps to make one.  Lets face it, mom & I have about one of everything in JoAnn's and close to that from the south Walmart too.  You need 144 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 inch squares to do one I Spy quilt.  When I started cutting squares I figured I'd just raffle the I Spy off at Relay next year.  As I started cutting I thought, "You know, I could do one of these for each of the nephews/nieces we draw for Christmas."  I was talking to mom and realized I could make four I Spy quilts for about $60.  That's roughly $15 per quilt.  I'd spend that n a crappy toy so why not spend it on something they'll use?  Once I came to terms with the idea of doing four I Spys, I told myself, "I should do these for Laura's boys too."  So, here I sit, a month later, with 7 I Spy quilts to make.  I decided I'd do the ones for Laura's boys for their birthdays.  That means I've got 5 to make by Christmas, 1 in February and 1 in March.  I have 113 squares left to cut to have all the squares I need for all 7 quilts.  That means I've got almost 900 squares sitting on my table in this picture.  I figured I needed a total of 1008 squares.  All the squares I've cut that I'm not using (there were more than 7 of that particular fabric) I've passed on to Caleb's preschool teacher.  Here's to hoping I get all seven of these done on the time frame I've set up for myself!

Brookelyn has learned yet another trick:

She's dancing on the table in this picture.  Apparently, she inherited the same monkey genes as her brother Caleb.  When he was this size I had to take all the chairs at the table & put them up on the table so he couldn't do this.  My table is pushed up against the stair railing and if they were to venture over to the edge it would be certain death..or at least a broken neck.  It doesn't help that all my sewing stuff has taken over my kitchen table again because that just looks like tons of fun to play in!  Here's to hoping I can keep her off the table!

Cindy called me this morning and told me she was taking her grandkids down to the Splash Pad this afternoon.  I thought that sounded like a great idea.  So, we tagged along.  I was happy B didn't fall asleep in the carseat on the way to the Splash Pad.  The last time we went she slept the whole time!  I took her swim suit & changed her clothes when we got there.  Since she decided she was going to walk this weekend, I let her venture over with her siblings.  She loved it!

I love this picture!

This little boy just so happened to be named Nash!  No kidding.  I pointed him & his mom out to our Nash and told her to go introduce himself to her.  She said she hadn't ever met another Nash.  I told her we hadn't either!

Witch Born Contest

Ok, I'll admit it.  I'm a bit in love with the books Witch Song & Witch Born.  I'll be honest.  I was hesitant to read Witch Song.  I'm not a big fantasy genre reader.  I read it because I was going to CA and my girlfriend highly recommended it to me.  So, I stole her copy & read it on the way home from CA.  After I read it I couldn't wait for the second one to come out.  The second one, Witch Born, will be released Sept. 5.  Because I'm awesome (ha!) and know people, I've already read Witch Born.  Honestly, it was as good (or better) than Witch Song.  I don't say that about a lot of sequels.  I am highly anticipating the prequel and am disappointed that there are currently no plans for a third.  I will however tell you this: YOU can win a copy of Witch Born!  All you have to do is visit the author's site and follow the directions!  You can find her blog here: http://amberargyle.blogspot.com/  What are you waiting for?  Go enter to win!